Barbara Smith an intermediate watercolorist from Belleville, Ontario back in 1975, has left us a work in progress on her way to becoming a listed Canadian artist.

In 1975 she was taking classes in her community and painting what she loved best on the outskirts of her home town. Her art school had appraised her work at the intermediate level and valued this piece at $150.00.

25 years later there is a Barbara Smith listed with the Art Gallery of Canada from Whitehorse, in the Yukon, whose work is considered as "expressionist painting and drawing".

What is lovely here is the overall design of this large piece; the trees are distinctive, in fact like green flames out of the ground. It's rare to see that from a watercolor and more likely tackled in oils. These shapes hearken back to how our Groups of Seven painters tackled their designs.

The whole piece just jumps out at you. It's effective.

A good vintage piece.

Frame: 27 1/2" x 20 1/4"
Image: 21" x 14"

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